Eggplant Happiness

Eggplant.  Hmmm.  I wanted nice crispy, crunchy fried eggplant.  I also wanted the warm, flavorful bowl of ratatouille.  Or, maybe I’d do some mushroom pesto with the fried eggplant.  We have oodles of basil so pesto was a great option.  On to eatyourbooks to no avail.  You know what comes next…  I made up a recipe.  Not quite sure what to call it because it had so many pieces and parts! 

Here’s what I did:  I peeled the eggplant and sliced it into four planks.  Then, I put a couple of eggs in a bowl and whisked them with a fork.  Into another bowl I put a big handful of panko and a big handful of coarsely grated asiago cheese.

Then, I picked a big handful of basil.  Half of it got julienned and half went into the bullet. 

A big handful of pine nuts went into a dry skillet to brown.

A big skillet went on the stove with a good glug of olive oil.  Into that went two portobello mushroom caps, half a big zucchini, half a big yellow squash, half a red onion, one of the end pieces of eggplant and about 10 cherry tomatoes.  Everything got diced about ¼” to ½”.  When it got too dry, I poured in some water.  The julienned basil went in too along with a handful of capers and a couple of cloves of garlic finely minced.

Half the pine nuts went into the bullet along with an equal measure of coarsely grated asiago, a small pour of olive oil and a tablespoon of melted butter.  That all became pesto. 

The eggplant planks got dunked in the egg wash then the panko/cheese mixture and plopped into a skillet with sizzling olive oil.  Those got sautéed until the exteriors were golden and crunchy and the interiors were creamy.  If you stick a fork into uncooked eggplant it’ll resist.  When it’s done it’s like putting a fork into custard.  No resistance.  Now, as I cooked the eggplant some of the panko/cheese mixture fell off and became a lovely crunchie.  I scarfed it up and had an ah-ha moment.  Pour the rest into the skillet!  I did and drizzled it with olive oil.  Those became lovely golden crunchies!

Time to put the dish together.  Eggplant plank on the plate.  Topped with the ratatouille.  Then, the rest of the toasted pine nuts, the crunchies, the pesto and finally some more coarsely shredded asiago.   (Can't get this one rightside up!)

We rated this a five out of five. It does use up pretty much every dish and skillet in the kitchen and isn’t a quick dish.  But, it’s SO worth it!

Rum Pineapple Bombs

We just escaped the cold and attended a conference in Orlando.  Not only was it wonderful to see my oldest brother, John, and his wife, Linda, but we got to enjoy some great meals with them and even escaped the hotel for a fabulous hour out on the pool desk.  The conference wasn't what we'd hoped it would be, there were a TON of tired kids traveling back with us who'd been to see THE Mouse, and worst of all I came home with a head cold.  Initially I thought it might be allergies acting up but, no, this is a real for sure humdinger of a head cold.  I was telling my friend Sarah how disappointed we were in the conference and how bummed I am to have gotten a cold.  She fired back with a recipe.  Two recipes to be exact.  One for a pineapple bomb and another for a pineapple bomb with a kick.  My brain immediately went to a slushie cocktail with all the ingredients plus rum.  What could go wrong?  We'd toss it down the drain is the worst that could happen, right?  Well, let me tell you this is almost worth getting a cold to have.  It's going on the list with bone broth, salt water gargle and hot toddies.  And, it just might show up when I'm good and healthy.  For preventative purposes.  You agree? 

Rum Pineapple Bomb with a KICK!

6 oz pineapple juice
2" peeled and chopped fresh ginger
1 1/2 T honey
1/4 c lemon juice
pinch salt
pinch freshly ground pepper
pinch cayenne pepper
3 oz white rum

Mix all the ingredients in the bowl of a blender.  Add ice cubes to taste and whir away.

Keke's where the pancakes were the size of manhole covers.  YUM!

 Linda and John

 John's Chicken Marsala at Armando's.  What a fabulous meal!!!!

 Connie's Seafood Risotto

 My Sunday Gravy, Meatball, Sausage and Braciole

 Linda's Baked Eggplant with Pasta and Red Sauce

 Relaxing on the pool deck

 Columbia Restaurant.  Be still my heart.  Chickpea and potato soup with 1905 Salad

 And, last but certainly not least, the world's best Cuban Sandwich!

Crabmeat Wraps and Peanut Butter Noodles

Half a can's worth of frozen crabmeat.  And then there was a head of Bibb lettuce.  Some wobbly celery.  Some wobbly cucumber.  A carrot or two.  This is what the produce drawer looked like after being gone.  My brain went to Friday Night Sandwiches.  But, that didn't use up the cucumber or the carrot.  I suppose I could've made a ginger salad and used them up.  But, then I looked in the pantry and we had no bread.  Friday Night Sandwiches were out.  How about the lettuce wraps like they make at PF Changs with ground pork?  Made with crabmeat instead.  And, how about peanut butter noodles to use up the cucumber and carrot?  And, to get rid of one of the three boxes of rice noodles in my pantry. 

With many thanks to Leite's Culinaria for the dressing recipe, we thoroughly enjoyed the crabmeat wraps.  The balance of the dressing got tossed with peanut butter to make the noodles.  So, mission accomplished.  Clean up the kitchen for two!

Crabmeat Lettuce Wraps

1 large can crabmeat (20 oz?)
1/2 - 1 c slivered almonds, toasted
4 ribs celery, diced
1 can diced waterchestnuts
1 head Bibb lettuce

N.B. - I only used half a can of crabmeat so adjusted the recipe accordingly

dressing:
1/4 c soy sauce
1/4 c rice wine vinegar
1/4 c sake
1 T sesame oil
2 T lemon juice
1 t crushed ginger
1/4 c sugar
1/4 - 1/2 t hot chili oil

Mix the dressing and toss it with the crabmeat, celery, waterchestnuts and almonds.  Wrap in lettuce leaves to serve.

Peanut Butter Noodles

1 8.8oz box rice noodles, prepared as per directions
2/3 c crunchy peanut butter mixed with half a recipe of above dressing
1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1 carrot, diced
1/2 can diced waterchestnuts

Toss the noodles with the vegetables and dressing. 

Mexican Sausage Soup

Back from a week and a half on the road.  Business trip to Atlanta and Florida.  Funny how those work best in winter.  Connie came back coughing and hacking.  He spent a good part of the day on the couch in the office.  My mission was to get him to eat some relatively healthy food for dinner - including what we call Jewish penicillin - chicken broth.  The problem is that he doesn't like soup.  Particularly brothy soups.  Lobster bisque?  Clam chowder?  Both are just fine with him.  Chicken noodle?  Um, no thanks.  So, I thought I'd make chicken and noodles.  Then, when I opened the freezer and saw the solid block of four chicken thighs I decided to come up with plan B.  There were three sausages in the freezer.  They'd thaw a LOT more quickly.  They went into a soup pot along with onion and green pepper.  Then, I headed toward the pantry to gather ingredients that'd work.  One of the recipes I'd read on eatyourbooks.com suggested using hash brown potatoes in a sausage soup.  That sounded good but rice sounded better.  Then, once everything was in the pot and simmering away, I made some sour cream with lime juice and cumin.  And, I grated some extra sharp cheddar.  A quick salad with bibb lettuce, sliced banana, mandarin orange segments and a jam dressing topped with toasted pecans and we were good to go.  This is a soup that'll freeze really well.  And, since Connie actually liked it, I'll be able to make it a few times a year!

Mexican Sausage Soup

3 sausages (mild or spicy Italian)
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
1 T olive oil or vegetable oil
1 quart chicken bone broth
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can gold and white corn, drained
1 can stewed tomatoes, chopped (regular diced tomatoes or Rotel will work)
1 16 oz jar salsa
1/2 c Uncle Bens converted white rice
2 t cumin

Slice and brown the sausages, onion and green pepper in the olive oil.  Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for about 15 minutes - or until the rice is tender. You can top this with sour cream and/or grated cheese.

Here's the salad too:

Cod Milanese with Chickpea and Artichoke Heart Salad

I bought Ina Garten's new cookbook the day it came out.  While I frequently buy used cookbooks for pennies on the dollar, I'm fine with buying Ina's cookbooks new.  Why?  They're so well done.  She obviously tests and retests her recipes because they just work.  And, they're so often relatively quick and easy.  Perfect for work nights.  That's how I felt about her Flounder Milanese.  After reading the book cover to cover and making a list of recipes to try, this one came to the top of the list.  I stopped at our favorite fishmongers and picked up some cod instead of the flounder. 

We left the office about 7:00 and headed home.  I still needed a salad.  My idea was celery.  A great recipe from the New York Times was on my radar.  But, it required a two hour marination.  Not happening at 7:00 in the evening!  So, on to eatyourbooks.com.  I typed in celery, pine nuts, feta, thinking I'd get a bunch of salad ideas.  Nope.  Just one, from Food 52.  So, I used the basic ingredients and made up my own salad dressing. 

What did we think?  Both recipes were fives.  They were SO easy to make.  And, SO very good.  This is exactly what we like on a late evening.  Quick, flavorful and pretty darned good for us. 

Cod Milanese

Ingredients:

1 pound cod fillet
1 c all purpose flour
salt and pepper
1 extra large egg
1 c seasoned dry bread crumbs
unsalted butter
good olive oil
1 T drained capers
lime juice

Directions:

Put the flour in a shallow bowl.  Beat the egg with a tablespoon of water in another shallow bowl.  And, the seasoned bread crumbs in another.  Since I didn't have seasoned bread crumbs, I put in a good bit of Italian seasoning.  Cut the fish into pieces.  I cut it based on the thickness of the fish.  Pat the fish pieces dry.  Melt a tablespoon of butter in a large skillet.  Add a tablespoon of olive oil.  Dip the fillets first in flour, then the egg, then the bread crumbs.  When the butter is sizzling, put the thicker fillets in.  When they are brown on the first side, flip them and add the balance of the fillets to the skillet.  You may need to add more butter and/or oil.  The thick fillets (1") took about 8 minutes and the thinner ones took about 4 minutes.  Serve topped with capers and a squeeze of lime or lemon.  Ina also added salad greens with a lemon vinaigrette.

adapted from Cook Like a Pro by Ina Garten



Celery, Artichoke and Chickpea Salad

Ingredients:

3 celery ribs with leaves, finely diced
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and diced
1 jar hearts of palm, drained and sliced thinly
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 c crumbled feta cheese
2 T toasted pine nuts
mustard vinaigrette

Directions:

Mix the celery, artichoke hearts, hearts of palm, chickpeas and vinaigrette together and allow them to marinate while you prep the fish.  For the vinaigrette, I had about 3 T of Dijon mustard left in a jar.  I added some red wine vinegar, a pinch of sugar, about 2 t of Italian seasoning and then a good bit of EVOO.  Serve the salad topped with crumbled feta and toasted pine nuts. 

adapted from Food 52

Simple Recipes

Sometimes the simple recipes are just as fabulous as the complicated ones.  The chicken wings we made for the ARC of Indiana fundraiser.  Or the tomato, zucchini, yellow squash gratin I made to use up extra produce. 

Let's start with the chicken wings.  For years I made La Brea Tar Pit Chicken Wings.  They are fabulous.  Then, I found A Taste of Palm Springs and a wing recipe with sherry, brown sugar and soy sauce.  Our grandkids were coming over for a weekend.  I knew son David would want to watch football so I did an appetizer bar for lunch.  Everyone devoured the wings.  Since then I've made them half a dozen times.  My brother's mother-in-law declared she had never eaten a chicken wing and promptly demolished half a dozen.  They're that good.  The last time I made them was for a fund raiser.  You take 75-100 bites and folks wander around and nibble.  We sold out in 15 minutes.  Yup, 15 minutes. 

Next up is the gratin.  There's a produce stand down the road.  They have a $1 per basket close out shelf.  That's where I start.  I went in looking for tomatoes and wound up spending $4.  Six large tomatoes, eight yellow squash, seven peaches plus four plums and the most overloaded basket EVER - with seventeen bananas.  Yes, you read that correctly.  SEVENTEEN.  In addition to the jalapenos, goat cheese and cherry tomatoes to use up, I now had a full bag of other produce.  Research time.  Eatyourbooks.com, New York Times, recipes I've scanned in at home, recipes I've scanned in at the office.  Some really great recipes.  But, what to make for an actual dinner in an hour?  Had to be quick.  Gourmet's Quick Kitchen had this wonderful gratin recipe.  It called for grated parmesan on top.  But, my elbow hurt from all of the work on the computer at the office.  So, I chopped off a piece about 1" long and 1/2" square.  And, proceeded to chop the heck out of it.  That turned out to be the difference between a four and a five.  Remember, we score dishes one thru five.  This one was a five. 

Bananas.  Still had that mountain of bananas to work my way through.  And, I'd gotten some apples from our Imperfect Produce box.  There was a recipe for a banana, apple, walnut Waldorf salad.  Sounded perfect. 

Still needed a protein since I'd not had any all day.  Shrimp poached in white wine would be perfect.

Here are the recipes...

Taste of Palm Springs Chicken Wings

Ingredients:
5 lbs chicken wings (fyi - the Costco wings are pre-cut but there are only 12 per pack with three packs for 5 lbs - the recipe says it makes 50-60 pieces.  It does not.)
1 c brown sugar, packed
3/4 c sherry
1/2 t dry mustard
1 c soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced

Directions
Separate the wings into two pieces after you've cut off the tips.  Bake the wings at 350 for thirty minutes.  I usually use a piece of aluminum foil on the half sheet so the clean up is easier!  While the wings are starting, heat the sauce ingredients.  Pour the sauce over the wings and bake for another two hours.  You want the wings to be totally glazed.  There may be a bit of sauce left but there shouldn't be much.


Tomato Zucchini Gratin

Ingredients:
1 large tomato
1 small zucchini
1 small yellow squash
6 large leaves basil
1 t minced garlic
2 T olive oil
2 T freshly grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

Cut the zucchini and yellow squash into 1/4" slices.  I got about 11-12 slices from each.  Cut the tomato into 1/4" slices then cut those in half.  Drizzle one tablespoon of the olive oil in a 9" pie plate.  Top that with the garlic.  Then layer over the vegetables.  The recipe called for one layer but I already had a baking dish for two so that's what I did.  On the first layer, sprinkle half the basil and half the parmesan.  Ditto the second.  Then drizzle the gratin with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil.  Bake at 425 for 35 minutes. 


Apple Banana Waldorf Salad

Ingredients:

1 t orange zest
1 T seasoned rice vinegar
1/4 c mayonnaise
dash of nutmeg
1 apple, cored and diced
1 banana, peeled and sliced
1 stalk celery, diced
1/2 c chopped walnuts or pecans, toasted

Directions:
Mix the orange zest, vinegar, mayonnaise and nutmeg.  Either toss everything together or make a deconstructed version like I did.

What You DIdn't Know You Needed - Chicken Fried Ribs!

This is in the category of things you didn't know you needed...  Chicken fried ribs!  How in the world did we find them?  Remember Connie's list of the 51 best sandwiches?  One is at Fox Brothers BBQ in Atlanta.  A couple of years ago we drove through and we had the Fox Brothers Burger - which is really chopped smoked beef brisket - but HAD to try the chicken fried ribs appetizer.  This trip, we made sure there was time to head downtown Atlanta and visit Fox Brothers.  And, I came away determined to try and make chicken fried ribs.  There are two parts to this.  One is the ribs themselves and the other is the bbq sauce.  It's Alabama white BBQ sauce.  Something I've never made.  Now, I have a pretty darned good taste memory so I thought I could recreate it once I surfed the web and checked out how others prepared it.  Some put in massive quantities of vinegar, some a smidgen.  Some used smoked paprika.  Most used horseradish and garlic.  I started by dolloping some mayonnaise in a plastic storage container - probably a cup and a half.  Tossed in a couple of teaspoons of horseradish followed by an equal amount of crushed garlic.  Then, I poured in a couple of tablespoons of cider vinegar. And, I went hunting for the smoked paprika.  I know it's on the second shelf.  But, it was buried.  Out came the juniper berries, then the curry.  As I had my hand on the next item I looked to the right and saw Penzey's BBQ 3000.  Ah HA!  That would not only have smoked paprika but also some other good stuff.  It'd do just fine.  In went about a tablespoon of the BBQ 3000.  The sauce was too thick so another tablespoon of vinegar went in.  Stir, taste, we have a winner! You all like my fancy bowl?  LOL  Hey, at least I didn't use a plastic spoon!

Next it was time to figure out the ribs.  Connie'd run errands most of the morning and came home to smoke the ribs while I stayed at the office and plowed through a bunch of work.  I'd gotten home to a lovely smoked rack of ribs.  He said he kept them at about 250 for a couple of hours.

After looking at the few chicken fried ribs recipes I could find, I decided to just wing it.  I saw ones with panko and ones with corn meal.  But, I just didn't think the Fox Brothers ribs had either.  So, I went with the flour, egg/milk, seasoned flour dipping routine.  I know.  You look at that and think, "What a total complete and entire mell of a hess!"  And, yes, I closed the drawer before I kept dipping.  Connie'd reached in and gotten the candy thermometer to check the temp on the hot oil and he didn't get the drawer totally closed as I took the photo. 

The seasoned flour had salt, pepper and more of the BBQ 3000. 

I heated up a couple of inches of vegetable oil in a deep saucepan and started dipping the ribs.  Three at a time could be fried so I was pretty glad we'd done just one rack! 

The first batch came out and I realized they were craggier than the ones we'd had at Fox Brothers.  But, they were still good!

Connie said he'd like mac and cheese with the ribs.  I was thinking the tomato pie with pimento cheese topping that I'd read on the New York Times site.  So, I compromised.  Pimento cheese mac and cheese it was.  And, sliced tomatoes with basil and balsamic glaze on the side.  Made me very happy that I'd spent $3.99 a pound for half a pound of heirloom tomatoes!  They were fabulous.  The mac and cheese was a basic cheddar mac and cheese with 2 oz of diced pimentos and about 20 shakes of chipotle Tabasco sauce added.  I used 3T of both butter and flour and about 2 1/2 cups of 2% milk.  Then, stirred in about 8oz of shredded Cracker Barrel extra sharp cheddar. 

So there you have it.  What you didn't know you needed!  Here's how it looked all put together.